Happily Ever After in Mexico
by Blue Jay Sparrow
Summary: What happened to Sands? What happened to Mariachi? What happened in general? Find out.
1. Sands and El

Sands's POV

Darkness. That was the only thing that Agent Sheldon Jeffrey Sands of the C.I.A. knew. What had gone wrong? He had been the one throwing shapes. He was the one who had been setting them up. Wasn't he supposed to be watching them falling at this moment? But living _la vida loca_ had taken over him and now there was no way that he could watch them fall. Darkness had indeed taken over him.

After all this time, wasn't he supposed to be living happily ever after? They say every dog has his day. Sands knew this wasn't true. Not once. No. Not once had he even thought it might be.

Sands was alone. Chewing gum boy was gone now. After bidding Agent Ramirez goodbye, Sands had managed to drag himself to a hospital. The gun wounds were healing, but the hospital could not and did not do anything about his sight. In fact, Sands had begun to realize that he would have to live his life in darkness.

The hospital had been kind. They had even offered to help him get a Seeing Eye dog. Sands had refused. There was no way he was going to get some dog to help him see. He could handle everything perfectly fine with his…other four senses.

Over time, Sands had managed to train himself. He could function as well as any other normal person. In fact, he was better than some. There was nothing wrong with him other than the fact that he had no eyes.

The C.I.A., merciless as they were, forced him to continue to stay in Mexico. This made Sands laugh. It was almost crazy. The C.I.A. was scared of him. Why else would they force him to stay down there for all of eternity until he died? It wasn't like he minded. Mexico had become like a home. And it wasn't like he had anything to go back to in America, anyway.

At the moment, Sands was sitting in a bar. He had absolutely nothing better to do. He very well couldn't read the paper anymore, could he? He couldn't see any girls to hit on. So here he was, being bored…and lonely.

A familiar sound greeted Sands's ears, and he turned, automatically towards the sound. The entire bar went silent. Sands grinned to himself and adjusted the black shades covering his…eyes. Something familiar. Even if it was _him_.

The chinking and tinkling sound stopped, but then it resumed again, coming in the direction of Sands, accompanied by footsteps. The bar resumed normal talk again. The chinking sound sat down to Sands's left.

_'I wonder if he even knows it's me.'_

"Well, Sands, I didn't expect to see you here."

"You know me, El. Can't leave Mexico."

The Mexican man next to Sands scoffed. Silence fell between the two of them. The last encounter they had had was when Sands had told El Mariachi that he was going to shoot a cook and Mariachi would have to shoot Gen. Marquez.

Sands almost…_almost_…wondered what El had been up to over the past six months since The Day of the Dead. Had he had as difficult of a time as Sands had been having? What was he doing now?

Mariachi's POV

As a matter of fact, El Mariachi had not had as difficult a time as Sands, but that didn't mean he hadn't had a hard time at all. After splitting up with Lorenzo and Fideo, Mariachi had wandered the country. He wasn't exactly an outlaw anymore, but he wasn't good either. He killed people who did wrong in his eyes. He was even more renowned than he had been before T.D.D. (The Day of the Dead)

Mariachi's wanderings had taken him all the way to the southern border of Mexico, and so he had decided to head back up. He passed through the town in which so many memories lay dormant, waiting for him to pass through again. So, Mariachi had decided to stop at a few of his old haunts, remembering once again the revenge he had received and what it had taken to get that revenge.

Now, El Mariachi was silently watching the blind man sitting next to him. What was he thinking? Was Sands planning to shoot Mariachi? Did the crazy man still have a gun? Thoughts ran rapidly through the Mexican guitar fighter's head, and he reached for the gun inside of his Scorpion jacket (just in case).

Little did Sands know, a couple of miles north of the town in which he was having a face-off with Mariachi, something would turn his life and everything in it inside out, upside down, and round and round.

Sorry it was so short, guys. But please R&R. It's not very interesting yet, but it will get there fast (I hope). Blue Jay Sparrow signing off, I guess, until the next chapter.


	2. Another Fed and an Outlaw

Jay's POV

Agent Jay Haven Hollows of the C.I.A. miserably sat cross-legged on the hood of her black '65 Mustang, flip-phone open on her lap. Blinking on the screen of the tiny phone were the two worst words that a person broken down in the middle of a desert in Mexico wanted to see: "NO SERVICE."

After swearing at the car, kicking it in the tire, rummaging around under the hood to find out was wrong, and swearing more, she had decided the best thing to do was to sit and wait. It was overheated. For all she knew, there wasn't a town for miles around, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Jay brushed her long, dark brown hair out of her face and groaned, rubbing at her green eyes. The only positive thing she could think was, 'At least I'm getting even more tan.' She sighed angrily through her teeth, adjusted her darkly tinted shades, and pulled up the sleeves of her silly novelty t-shirt ("If I throw a stick, will you leave?" it said). Short blue-jean shorts completed her outfit with flip-flops on her feet.

Deciding there was nothing else to do, Jay grabbed her keys from the car, locked it, and began to walk down the road, pulling off her flip-flops as she went. If she had to walk down the road to the nearest Mexican town, she would do it her own way.

Darn that C.I.A. for sending her down here. Jay had put in all her time and effort to become #2 in that twisted agency only to be shipped down here for "not playing well with others." So what if the last partner she had ended up a eunuch? He had been getting a bit too flirty in her opinion.

Jay liked her space and distance. She wasn't the type that hated every man just because he was man. She tried to give them all a chance, but some of them just abused that privilege of being given that little bit of slack.

Jay walked for quite a while. It seemed to get hotter with every step she took. Pretty soon, she was sure she could go no more. Then, she spotted something that changed her mind. A little way ahead was a tall building. A building meant a town. A town meant water and help for her car. Jay took off in that direction at once.

Fox's POV

A trail of blood lingered over the sand of one of the hottest deserts in Mexico. If you were following this trail, the sounds of a gunfight could be heard ahead.

Fox ducked just in time as a bullet shot over her head and out into the blue skies of Mexico. "Just surrender and we won't have to hurt you!" called a voice.

Fox snorted in disgust and reloaded her sawed-off shotgun from behind a sand dune. All it would take was one shot, and the guy was dead. He was already wounded. She had reluctantly spared him, but had decided that she needed to go onto bigger and better things. But the idiot had pursued.

Fox took careful aim from where she was hidden as the man following her stuck his head up to look in what direction she might have gone.

BANG!

Fox didn't even have to look to see if she had gotten him. Instead, she was rewarded with a splat sound and a shriek. Stupid federal agent. Didn't they know she couldn't be arrested in Mexico for crimes in the U.S.? It was impossible to track her down in her temporary home anyway. Fox knew the Mexican deserts and towns like she knew the back of her own hand.

Fox slung her guitar case over her shoulder and pressed on towards the Mexican city she had decided to stay in for the day. The sun beat down on her flaming red hair, but Fox didn't feel the heat at all. Spending so much time down here in Mexico had adapted her to the abnormal amount of heat.

Ahead of her, she could see a tall building. The city was obviously in that direction. Fox continued to travel that way. Maybe she'd even meet a few people to play poker with. In fact, Fox decided that she'd kill for a game of poker at that moment, if not kill over a game of poker (quite literally).

Jay's POV

Jay stumbled into the town to discover that it wasn't a town at all, but it was a small Mexican city. She found the cleanest looking bar in the place and made her way inside. She flopped at the bar on the nearest stool, put her head on the bar, and let the cool air soak through her.

Sands's POV

Sands looked around as he heard the French doors of the bar being flung open. Then, he heard the sound of someone collapsing on the stool to the right of his. He turned his head in that direction, hoping to maybe hear some sounds indicating what kind of person this was.

The person seemed to have fallen asleep on the bar, as steady breathing was coming from that direction. Sands turned in the direction that he had left Mariachi in.

"What is it?" asked Sands. There was no answer, but there was a rustling, clinking noise as Mariachi shifted his weight. "Well El?"

"It's a woman," said Mariachi's voice.

"Mexican?"

"No. Just tan."

"Describe?"

"Dark brown hair. Can't see her eyes. She has shades on like yours, kinda. She's shorter than you. She's not anorexic thin, but she's definitely not overweight. She's wearing a stupid novelty t-shirt."

Sands scoffed. "I'll have you know, El, that novelty t-shirts are in high fashion."

Mariachi's POV

Mariachi rolled his eyes, even though the blind agent couldn't see it. It had been as big a surprise to him as it had been to Sands to see this young woman come running into the bar and slump on the stool like she had.

Well…Sands couldn't _see_ it.

Jay's POV

Jay had not been asleep. In fact, she had been wide-awake through the entire conversation the two men next to her were having. Jay sat up and looked at the one next to her.

Dark brown hair that was all one length and came halfway down his neck. She couldn't see his eyes. He was wearing shades just like hers. High cheekbones. Chiseled jaw. Pouty lips. He was wearing a novelty t-shirt that said, "doesn't play well with others." If that shirt was true, this was her kind of guy.

Then, she realized that the man was staring at her. "Hello," she said.

Sands's POV

Sands turned red. He hadn't known she was watching him. "Um…hi," he replied.

"Can I help you, or are you just looking?" asked the woman next to him.

Sands turned a deeper shade of red, but he didn't think the girl noticed it. Of course, she didn't know he didn't have any eyes so she was OK for now. "Maybe I should be asking you the same question."

There was a shuffle from next to him. "Excuse me?" "You heard me."

There was a shuffle again. Sands felt inclined to introduce himself as he had already pissed her off. She sounded to much like him anyway, and if that was true, it would be a bad thing to piss her off.

"I'm Sands," said Sands, holding out his hand to shake hers. "Did your mother really name you that?" "Ha." "No really." "No, I just choose to use my last name, thank you very much. You?"

"Jay." Jay didn't shake. Sands dropped his hand. "Do you have problems or something? When someone holds out their hand, you're supposed to shake it," said Sands. "I don't trust people who don't play well with others."

Ooo…this girl was putting up a fight. Now that was a different story.

Jay's POV

Jay was doing all she could to put up a good fight. This guy sounded too much like her. And that was something strange crazy.

The man called Sands opened his mouth to retaliate, but he was interrupted by the sound of the French doors swinging open once again. Jay turned. The bar went completely silent. All eyes were focused on the redhead who had just walked through the doorway.

The red was about the same height as Jay. Her long, fiery red hair was held back in a ponytail, or maybe it should have been foxtail. Her eyes were blue with a red-ish tint, and she analyzed the full bar around her. Stepping forward, she clinked when she walked.

Then, the red sat down at the bar right next to Jay. The room was deadly silent. Without caring to turn around, the red said loudly for anyone to hear. "It's like they've never seen a redhead before."

The room immediately became lively again. Everyone was talking and pretending not to watch the red.

The red adjusted the black leather jacket she was wearing. Jay noticed what looked like a fox on the back of the jacket.

"Hi," said Jay casually.

The red said nothing. but simply waved her hand at the bartender. "Water. Cold. Don't try to poison it. I'll know."

Jay thought maybe the red hadn't heard her, so she opened her mouth to say something else maybe. But the red interrupted her. "Yeah?"

"Um…are you Fox?" asked Jay.

"Depends who's asking."

"Jay Haven Hollows."

"Cartel?"

"Not remotely."

"Your friends?" Fox indicated the other two to Jay's left.

"Don't know them."

"Ah. Yeah, I'm Fox."

Jay nodded, a hand inside of her pocket clutching a gun in case the redhead should try anything funny.

Then, Fox said something totally unexpected. "You can stop holding the gun like that. I'm not going to kill you. I'm only after the cartels."

Sands's POV

Sands heard the girl called Jay talking to the person who had just come in. No one had made the bar go silent like that since Mariachi's gun slinging, guitar-fighting days. He concluded that this was not a woman to be mucked with.

Sands's head snapped around at the sound of her voice. Her voice was so familiar. Like he had heard it years ago. Like he had known her. The name Fox, in itself, sounded just as familiar.

Sands wondered how she could have gotten the name Fox. Was she a red? The thought of a redhead brought an unpleasant memory bubbling up from within his brain. He smacked his palm against his forehead and thought to himself, _'Snap out of it. You're going _loco

It's longer, but not as long as I hoped. Please R&R. Thanx a bunch already you guys who did R&R! (hugs)


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